


Drive Up the Wall

by Starffledust



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Bonding, Bunny's Egg Train, Caring E. Aster Bunnymund, Egg Train, Fluff, Jack Frost is Nightlight (Guardians of Childhood), Katherine is also only mentioned but I wanted to add her, Multi, Nightlight Cares, North is mentioned but doesn't appear, Or not. I left it ambiguous, Pooka E. Aster Bunnymund, So I made one, The Warren (Rise of the Guardians), There's no character tag for that, bookverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28054098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starffledust/pseuds/Starffledust
Summary: Bunnymund turned around and adjusted his egg-shaped glasses. The boy, his eyes wide and wondering, his hair white and curled, tilted his head.“Well?” Bunnymund prompted again.The boy, Nightlight, did not speak. But he moved forward, the moonbeam in the tip of his staff blinking curiously.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund & Jack Frost, E. Aster Bunnymund & Nightlight, E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost, Jack Frost & Katherine (Guardians of Childhood), Katherine & Nightlight
Comments: 4
Kudos: 58





	Drive Up the Wall

His coat was tight, stretched unnaturally over his beat frame as Bunnymund stiffened. His brown ears flipped backward. “Is there something you need?” he called loudly to the presence behind him.

The shuffling of shoes stopped.

Bunnymund turned around and adjusted his egg-shaped glasses. The boy, his eyes wide and wondering, his hair white and curled, tilted his head.

“Well?” Bunnymund prompted again.

The boy, Nightlight, did not speak. But he moved forward, the moonbeam in the tip of his staff blinking curiously.

Bunnymund had been away from the surface for so long, trapped within his tunnels and chambers; he could not read the moonbeam’s words. 

But Nightlight, who had spent his entire known life deep in caves and higher in clouds, understood the message perfectly. His ever-present light faded to a dull pulse, and his lips quirked down. He glanced back to Bunnymund with a knowing stare.

“Kids these days,” Bunnymund huffed as he turned back to his work—a pile of broken machinery. He ignored the smarting stare on his back. “Takes four broken eggs just to realize you're treading on bad earth.” He glanced at Nightlight again, who still stood solemnly behind him. “What? You want chocolate? Katherine probably told you about it, didn't she? I can probably get another batch going soon enough.”

Nightlight shook his head.

Bunnymund’s ears dropped in disappointment, and he turned his face away with a growl. “Then what do you want, you larrikin?”

A soft rustle filled the air as Nightlight stepped closer to place a pale hand over Bunnymund’s heart. Dark brown fur, the color of ancient chocolate and the Earth alike, puffed along Bunnymund’s arms, and he breathed heavily through the coat, Nightlight’s hand rising and falling with the motion.

The boy kept his gaze steady through the other’s tinted glasses, green irises swimming before Bunnymund’s vision. Oh, they looked so young, but there was experience and wisdom there, beyond the capabilities of words.

Bunnymund's face skewed in confusion. “You'll need to be a little clearer,” he said.

A smile painted the boy’s pale face, and he glowed brighter in the green of the deep Earth. He pointed to the metal parts with a tilt of his head; his moonlight flickered gently.

“I thought Nicholas would have shown you enough of his work by now,” he said carefully as a forgotten flower of hope sprung within him and touched the plants around them. Vines twirled in anticipation as the air stilled before Nightlight’s answer.

The boy shook his head and laughed, the sound airy and joyful.

Bunnymund, for all his edges, could not keep himself from smiling. “If you have to know, it's a replacement piece for the controls in the Egg Train.”

Light filled the tunnel, and Nightlight went bug eyed. The moonbeam flickered with a single syllable.

Well, Bunnymund would recognize the word  _ egg  _ in any language, even those inhuman. “Yes, Egg Train,” he replied. “Your Katherine must have told you about it.”

Starlight overshadowed the boy’s eyes as they shifted and sparkled in thought. He finally shrugged and moved closer, pointing to the parts again.

After a moment of internal debate about what the boy asked of him, Bunnymund responded: “It’s a wheel. Supposed to be, anyway. Got a bit damaged on one of the rocks in the tunnels.”

With a mischievous quirk of his lip, Nightlight grabbed at a tool and turned to Bunnymund. A dutiful expression tensed his normally windblown brow.

“You want to help?” Bunnymund asked, stunned.

Nightlight nodded and gestured to the wheel.

“Alright,” he sighed, “but we go by my rules. Can't beat a Pooka’s design.”

***

Bunnymund—just Bunny in conversation now, but that didn't stop the small voice in the back of his head calling for something more formal—crossed his arms. His fur had gone gray, but the sturdiness of his frame remained through the years. He stood tall, shooting a disapproving glare at the ground.

“Get off the floor, you bloody showpony,” he scolded with a piercing stare of green. “Gonna set a bad example for me googies.”

“I couldn't spoil your little egg children if I tried, bun-bun,” Jack replied with a smirk from his place sprawled on the grass. He crossed his arms behind his head in a show of ease, closing his eyes.

Bunnymund huffed and shook his head fondly, a light smile on his face. “What're you even doing, mate?” He dropped a stray leaf onto Jack, which drifted down to stand on his nose. Jack sat up with a sneeze. “Can't be a light matter to bring you to the Warren sarvo. How'd you get here, anyway? Couldn't’ve used the tunnels, I would feel it.”

“Oh, no biggy.” Jack twirled into the air, clutching his wooden staff close to his head in excitement. A smile of childish secrets stayed plastered to his face as he leaned in closer to Bunnymund’s head. “North just showed me your old train.”

“My what?” Bunnymund’s ears, which had been contently drooped behind him, shot up in an instant. “North showed you that?”

“Yeah, complete with a story, too. When were you going to tell me you had six arms?”

Bunnymund’s expression darkened at the lighthearted disrespect of his chocolate and its abilities, but his eyes stayed light with amusement. “Some things, Frostbite, you don't need to know.”

“Just like I don't need to know about your egg collection?” 

Grey fur bristled. “Oi! He didn't tell you that!”

Jack hummed and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small journal with green binding. “No, but Katherine kept a steady supply of information for me.” 

“Crikey!” Rabbit ears immediately pressed to Bunnymund’s back. His whiskers flattened in bewilderment. “Where’d you get that?”

Katherine had kept records of them all, but he thought for sure the original copies had gone bad by now, dust ridden and yellowed from years of use. To know his was still intact and now in Jack’s hands…?

Jack jumped higher into the air as Bunnymund reached to grab him. “Oh, you want this?” Jack held the book in one hand, using only two fingers as he kept it above Bunnymund’s head, just out of reach.

“Give that here, ya mongrel!” Bunnymund growled.

“Only if you teach me how to drive the train.”

He paused at that. “Fair dinkum?”

“Really really, kangaroo.”

“I'm not a kangaroo, mate!” Bunnymund jumped again, successfully snagging the edge of Jack’s pants. 

“Hey! What—” The boy crashed to the ground in a bundle of blue fabric and grey fur. 

Bunnymund snatched the book from Jack's hands.

“You could've snapped Twiner!” Jack complained, cradling his staff protectively. He paused with a lift of his head and watched as Bunnymund quietly studied the cover of the journal. 

“Can I still drive it?” Jack asked hopefully.

Green eyes glanced at him, their years flashing as Bunnymund assessed him. A moment passed. Then another. And another. 

Finally, Bunnymund laughed, the sound all encompassing and genuinely amused. He laughed so hard that he bent over to hold his stomach, book pressed against the soft fur of his abdomen.

Jack chuckled nervously back, still sitting. He did not know why they laughed. 

He quieted as Bunnymund drew closer with a smirk and let out a small  _ oof  _ as the book hit his chest.

“Not in a thousand years, mate.”

**Author's Note:**

> The lack of Egg Train in my previous work led me to this one, because *someone* was very disappointed in my transgressions.
> 
> I personally don't like Nightlight and Jack being the same person, since it just makes the book and movies clash a lot. So, I left it kinda ambiguous. If you like Nightlight turning into Jack go with that, but if you don't then it doesn't harm the story in any major way.
> 
> Also, I can't really ship Nightlight/Bunnymund—I mean, Nightlight's whole thing is him being an eternal child, and Bunny is literally one of the oldest creatures on the planet. But Jack is a bit more grey area, since he can literally turn into an eighteen year old if need be. I still left the ship up to interpretation, so read this and their dynamic how you will.
> 
> P.S. North totally claimed a monopoly over the Egg Train and then showed it to Jack like a proud parent, who then also wanted to steal it for himself. Everyone wants to drive the Egg Train. I don't make the rules.


End file.
